News & Events

Bit of something for everyone at the 2nd Annual URSULA Conference

Posted: 07/12/2009

URSULA aims to be an interdisciplinary project, and anybody who attended the 2nd Annual Conference would have a hard time arguing with that. Presentations covered a diverse range of topics including governance of river corridors, power at the policy-research interface, social network analysis, weir modification and eels, bird species to be found within Sheffield's river corridors, use of GIS to identify stormwater disconnections, and theory and practice of Bayesian Belief Networks and visualisation media. We also had a good helping of sustainable urban design topics, covering flood resilience, green roofs, urban microclimates and riverside access. The fact that these presentations are derived from current research results within URSULA reflects the fact that the problem of achieving sustainable development within urban river corridors is very complex and multifaceted, requiring expertise from a wide range of researchers. Without bringing these researchers together, the problem of achieving sustainable development cannot be answered, as many disciplines hold a small piece of the key to the solution. As this situation is common to many world problems, it is vital that holistic multidisciplinary thinking is taken up, not just in the context of urban river corridors, but across the board of policy development. It also makes for very interesting conferences.

For URSULA partners keen for a second dose, you can download the presentations from the Member's Zone.